st. Paul, minn. - it was a day of highs and lows for the concordia softball squad (17-13, 1-1 nsic) as they kicked off the 2009 nsic season with a doubleheader split with bemidji state (6-8, 1-1 nsic). The golden bears gave away a 3-2 decision in the season's first game played in st. Paul but rebounded with a five inning, 10-2 win in the second game. Freshman katie anderson had four bunt singles and four stolen bases against bemidji state. Tomorrow's twinbill against minnesota duluth will be played at the rice and arlington fields with a 4:00 pm start time.
the golden bears saw mixed success at the plate in the home opener against bemidji state, knocking out nine hits to bemidji's five, but killed any gained momentum by stranding runners on base in nearly every inning. Total, concordia left seven runners on the bags in the game, five of which were in scoring position.
the game started out well for concordia with anna bjorlin leading things off with a single. Bjorlin made it to third base with a sami mattson pull to right field, and concordia had runners at second and third with no outs following a mattson steal. As a sign of what was to come, the golden bears stranded both bjorlin and mattson, and also abby brundidge, who gained first base with a free pass.
katie anderson showed off her wheels to the home crowd in her first at-bat in the bottom of the second inning. She beat out the throw for a bunt single and then easily snagged second base with a steal. A zero was put on the board in that frame, however, keeping the game even at 0-0.
the beavers of bemidji state were sent down in order in the first two innings, but took advantage of an extra out in the third to put up an unearned run. A leadoff single developed into the 1-0 lead for bsu as the golden bear defense sluggishly misplayed a bunt. The throw by cu catcher nikki scherr would have gotten the out, but with coverage of first base coming late, the ball ended up in right field, which allowed the runner at first to round the diamond and score the game's first run.
after wasting a lead-off triple from jamie lindboe in the fourth, concordia began to show some life in the final few innings, tying the score in the fifth following another bunt single and stolen base from anderson and an rbi single from natalie mast. Brundidge led off the sixth with a single to center field and later scored on a calli brennan sacrifice, giving cu the 2-1 lead.
the beavers were not to be out-worked however, and they responded in the final inning. A single and a walk on one out was followed by a double to right center field, which filled up the bags. Bemidji's karissa hendrickson delivered the game-winning drive, a double to right center that scored two runs and gave bsu the final 3-2 edge. Concordia got bjorlin as far as second base in their last round of outs, but a foul out and looking strikeout ended the game.
anderson led the team with two hits in three at-bats, one run and two stolen bases. Bjorlin had two hits in her four at-bats. Brennan was left on base three times in the game. stephanie schmikla (8-7) took the loss for concordia, giving up two earned runs and holding bemidji state to five hits. She had three strikeouts.
concordia did a fine job of reversing the result in the second game of the day, putting up runs in three of the five innings, including a seven-spot notched in the fourth. The golden bears started the game with a double and then had the next six batters go down in order, but they opened the game up in the third inning.
katie anderson was once again a powerful force in the team's performance, gaining another two bunt singles and two additional stolen bases before she ended the game with an rbi double in the fifth inning, giving cu the 10-2 win.
the golden bears started the third inning with two singles and a walk. Anderson came around to score following a bsu throw away by the catcher. natalie mast drove in the team's second unearned run with a single to center field.
the team's largest success came in the fourth inning as they put up seven runs from seven hits, including a two-run dinger from calli brennan and an rbi double from nikki scherr. Cu sent 11 batters to the plate and came out of the inning with a 9-0 lead and a much-needed boost at the dish.
concordia errors in the top of the fifth combined with four walks to force play in the bottom of the inning with a score of 9-2. The golden bears made short work of going back up by eight runs to end the game, however. Scherr walked and then stole second, putting anderson at the plate. The freshman reverted away from bunting for just the second time of the day and drilled a shot down the left field line for a game-ending double.
anderson was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an rbi. Bjorlin, scherr and mast combined to go 7-for-9 with five runs scored and four rbi. cassye mcmahon improved to 8-5 on the year by limiting bemidji to just three hits. She did not give up an earned run and struck out five batters.
